The Nunn Board of Trustees passed a resolution Thursday stating its opposition to uranium mining near the town.

The measure passed 4-2 – one trustee abstained – to accept the resolution, proposed by Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction. Though the resolution cannot prevent Denver-based Powertech Uranium Corp. from building its uranium mine, some residents hope it will affect a state decision that could prevent mining in the area.

Powertech is in the process of obtaining permits to begin the Centennial Project, a uranium mining project proposed at sites near Nunn.

Mayor Jeffery Pigue expressed concern during the meeting that preventing landowners from receiving financial benefits presented by the mine could result in legal action by the ranchers.

“There’s several landowners out there that do plan on getting the royalties from this mining operation, and if these ranchers feel that we have caused significant damage to this operation, then they could possibly seek legal action,” Pigue said.

To insulate the town from legal action, he said, the town should not have a stance in favor of or against mining operations.

“Any time you impede on someone’s right, regardless to how small, they have the right to take legal action against you,” Pigue said during a meeting recess. “If they do, that’s one thing, and if they could win, that’s another. But if they took us to court, we couldn’t afford to defend it. We couldn’t. We’d be bankrupt before we could defend it. That was my stance all along. … That’s my stance in a nutshell.”

Taylor debated the threat to sue by asking during discussion whether other cities and towns that had passed similar resolutions – including Greeley, Ault, Fort Collins, Wellington and Timnath – were worried about being sued.

Pigue said the resolution was not binding. He added that although he voted against the resolution, he understands the concerns from the other side. He said if he thought there was a danger to the town, he would have supported the measure.

Pigue said he had nothing to personally gain by bringing Powertech to Nunn.

Ken Tarbett, who lives near Nunn, spoke during a presentation by CARD, concluding his speech with, “No, not here, not now, and not ever.” Based on the applause he received, most of those in attendance shared his opinion.

Public comment was dominated by residents opposed to the mine. Ault’s Charles Kindsfather compared bringing a uranium mine to Nunn to “playing Russian roulette with a loaded pistol.”

“There is a loaded shell in every cylinder.” he said. “You can’t develop a filter that is large enough and fine enough to remove these microscopic, highly toxic chemicals.”

After engineer Eric Nelson told the audience that in-situ mining was “the most unintrusive, safest and best method of mining available,” Howard M. Williams, who took part in CARD’s presentation, told Nelson to “fasten your seatbelt, I’ve got some news for you.”

Williams, who lives six miles west of Nunn, received applause after summarizing a 41-page document regarding water quality on former mining sites, saying, “To date, no remediation of an ISR (in-situ leach recovery) or ISL (in-situ leach) operation of the United States has successfully returned an aquifor to baseline conditions,” meaning the amount of heavy metals in aquifors have always been measured higher after mining operations than before.